Mamdani reaches out to White House to set up meeting with Trump
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani said Monday he has contacted the White House to arrange a meeting with President Donald Trump, signaling a cooling in tensions between the two leaders after months of harsh rhetoric.
“My team reached out to the White House to honor a commitment I made to New Yorkers during this campaign,” Mamdani told reporters at a Bronx food pantry, adding that the proposed meeting was part of a commitment to voters to “address the affordability crisis that is driving so many of them out of the city.”
“We see his actions and those of his administration in Washington leading to the exact opposite effect for New Yorkers, and I’m going to make the case to the president and everyone, frankly, that these are the kinds of things we need to change if we want to make it easier for New Yorkers and Americans to be able to provide for the daily necessities of their lives,” Mamdani said.
Mamdani told NBC New York in an interview last week that he would “reach out to the White House as we prepare to take office, because this is a relationship that will be critical to the city’s success.”
Trump told reporters on Sunday that Mamdani “would like to meet with us and we will find a solution.”
“He would like to come to Washington and meet,” Trump said. “We want everything to go well for New York.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday evening on details of a meeting.
Trump, who supported former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, running for mayor as an independent, repeatedly called Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, a “communist.”
During his mayoral campaign, Mamdani presented himself as the candidate who would mount the strongest opposition to Trump and focused his agenda on reducing rising costs for New Yorkers, including the costs of child care, housing, groceries and transportation.
A national NBC News poll released this month found that about two-thirds of registered voters believe Trump has failed to deliver on campaign promises related to the economy and cost of living.
Trump has largely dismissed these voter concerns. Asked last week in a Fox News interview about people who are worried about the economy, Trump replied: “I don’t know what they’re saying. »
He then added: “I think the polls are wrong. We have the best economy we’ve ever had.”
Trump continued to tout the economy while mentioning costs during a speech Monday night at an event for McDonald’s franchise owners, saying his administration would “pioneer new heights of prosperity.”
“We’re going for affordability. We’re going to lower it for everyone, because not everyone understands that a good stock market is beneficial for everyone,” he said.
